


Sunday's Family Day

by KirksTrek (WinchesterFeels)



Series: How Many Times Can I Say "I Love You" [4]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: AOS cast, Domestic, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of neglect, Reboot, mckirk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 12:02:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/952849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinchesterFeels/pseuds/KirksTrek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bones never talks about his daughter. Jo's entire existence is a secret. Until one night, when he tells Jim everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunday's Family Day

“I got it this time, Jim. You paid last time” Bones said as he reached for his wallet. Jim just smiled in response as he finished the last sip of his bourbon at their favorite bar in San Francisco. It had been exactly a month since they had returned from what was now being called “the Narada Incident,” and the paparazzi were finally starting to lay off their dedicated search for “insider’s photos of the Federation’s heroes.” This was only the second time they had been able to go out for a drink without being mobbed; the first time, Jim paid for the two of them in celebration of the relative privacy they’d had that night. 

Jim watched Bones as he got his Starfleet Credits card out of his wallet as he always does, soft but focused. He normally watches the precise movements of Bones’ legendary hands as he unfolds the wallet, but this time something else catches his eye: a piece of paper had fallen out of the wallet. Jim glances over at Bones, before he picks up the paper, only to see he hasn’t noticed. His conscience tells him to just hand it to Bones, but his curiosity gets the better of him. 

He unfolds the paper to find a picture on the inside. It’s a photograph of a young girl. A fairly old fashioned one, but it’s quality was pretty good nonetheless. Looking closer, he saw the little girl was really young, maybe 4, and playing outside in a grassy field, face lit with a huge smile. She looked strangely familiar; he’d seen that combination of thick dark hair and lightly tanned skin before. But the eyes were the defining feature. They looked exactly like... Bones’. Those were Bones’ eyes. 

He didn’t even think before asking, “Bones, do you have a daughter?”

Bones, who had been signing the bill, stared up at Jim with confusion clouding his eyes. “What?”

“Do you have a daughter, Bones?” Jim asked again, persistent as ever.

“No, I heard what you said, but it’s just... Whatever gave you that idea?” Bones asked with earnest curiosity. He had been very, very careful not to mention anything about Jo while on the Enterprise, and he had never told Jim about her either. At least, not to his knowledge. 

“This,” Jim said, holding up the unfolded picture that had fallen out of Bones’ wallet. “She looks a lot like you,” he added earnestly as Bones snatched the picture away from him. 

"Where did you get that?" Bones snapped as he carefully refolded the paper and carefully tucked it back in the fold of his wallet. 

"It fell out of your wallet! What was I supposed to do, just leave it there?" Jim asked with a smile on his lips. Bones was never really mad at him when he snapped that way; it just meant that there was something there he didn't want to talk about. The same thing had happened when Jim figured out why he and his wife split, or why he became a doctor. 

Bones sighed, as Jim knew he would, but said nothing, as he tucked his wallet in his back pocket and stood up. This surprised Jim: Bones was usually fairly forthcoming with even the most private of answers when he asked an outright question. He got up too, and followed Bones quietly out of the bar.

They were quiet for a few moments as they walked through the park, on a concrete path on their long-way-back to their apartment. The air was cool and foggy, and Jim waited for it to work its head clearing magic before asking Bones again.

“Bones,” Jim said quietly when they were about halfway through the park. “Who is she?” he asks quietly, knowing Bones can hear him, and sneaking a sideways glance at his best friend.

But Bones merely trudged on, looking at his feet and saying nothing. His shoulders were slumped, and he looked lost in thought, contemplating something, so Jim didn’t press. Instead, he let his mind wander, imagining all sorts of possible stories as to how that picture got into Bones’ wallet. 

Maybe it was an old picture of his younger sister, Jim thought. No, no Bones doesn’t have a sister. A cousin, perhaps. Or a family friend, or a niece, or his first girlfriend. 

Maybe Bones had had a daughter, but she died, somehow, when she was really young. This would be the last picture ever taken of her, one where she looks happy and healthy and free. He would have taken the picture a while before she died, but would have never gotten around to printing it, because everything’s digital now anyway. But, the day she died, he would have printed it and placed it in a very special pocket in his wallet, only to be looked at when he was feeling extremely lost, or needed more support and encouragement than he could give himself. He would only look at it when he needed a reason to keep going.

“She’s my daughter, Jimmy,” Bones interrupted Jim’s theorizing, once they reached the edge of the park and turned onto their street. He was still looking at his feet, and Jim could tell there was a hell of a lot more to this story than this, but he kept quiet. He knew that when Bones gets like this, all he needs is more time to think things through before talking again.

They walked in silence under the yellow-orange street lamps up the gentle incline to their apartment building. They walked in silence through the front door, and into the turbolift. They were lifted up to their floor in silence, and by this time it was eating at Jim. But he knew he couldn’t do anything to get Bones to talk, so he just let him think. Jim opened their door, stripped down to his boxers and an undershirt, grabbed a PADD, and flopped onto their bed, opening his messages tab on his PADD. Bones followed suit, in his own daze. He distractedly stripped his clothes much like Jim did, and sat on the edge of the bed, lowering his head into his hands. 

Jim sighed, turned off his PADD, setting it on the bedside table, and coming up behind Bones. He wrapped his arms around Bones’ shoulders, resting his head on the crook of his neck and whispering “What is it, Bonesy? What’s wrong?”  
Bones ran his fingers through his hair, and leaned back into Jim. He took a deep breath and began his story.

“The picture, Jim. That’s my daugher. Her name’s Joanna.” He said miserably, taking another breath.

“Okay,” Jim said, urging him onward with a gentle tone.

“See... The thing is, when I first met you, I’d been divorced less than 24 hours. Her mother got her. I was OK with it at first, because I was spiraling down so far, because I thought her mother could take much better care of her than I ever could.

“But then, at the beginning of our third year, I got this comm from an unknown Georgian. I opened it, and there she was. It was Jo, in tears, telling me how she wanted me, needed me to come get her. How her mom had gotten a new boyfriend a few months ago, and things had been going south since then. Her mom had been leaving her alone more and more often. My little girl, only 7 Jim, left all by herself for days, days at a time.” He took a shaky breath as a tear ran down his cheek, but he kept talking.

“She told me, in that comm, that her mom had come home completely drunk that night. And that her mom told her that she didn’t want her anymore. That she was only a nuisance, getting in the way of what she wanted to do. That she was useless and would amount to nothing. That she should just leave, because she’s just like her good-for-nothing father. But I didn’t do anything about it, because I couldn’t. Because the law said I wasn’t even supposed to be able to see her anymore. Because I’m a danger to her or something.” The tears were flowing freely now, and it was all Jim could do to gently rub his back and listen intently while he continued to talk.

“I thought about it for weeks, but I couldn’t do anything, Jim. And it killed me. Then one day, she found me. Apparently, she hopped on a transport to San Francisco, then hung out around the Academy. I saw her after coming out from watching your second Kobayashi Maru failure, and couldn’t believe it. She came back to our room while you were out wallowing in your defeat, and told me all about what had happened since she’d commed me. She saved up all her money, stealing some from her mother in the process, then packed her bag, and ran away while her mother was gone again. 

“I got her an apartment and found a nanny to look after her, but it never feels like enough. I interrogated all those nannies like they were going to be taking care of an extraterrestrial diplomat, and I was lucky to find one that worked. Tash, that’s her name. She and Jo get along well, which is good. She tells me sometimes that it’s like living with the older sister she always wanted. That helps a little, but not nearly enough.

“I go over and spend whatever time I can whenever I can. But, Jim, it’s never enough. It’ll never be enough. Cause I’m working, and gone for months and even years at a time, up in space, cause I’m not always here, cause I can’t go kiss her goodnight every single night. I can’t even be a father, Jim. I’m a failure.” He chokes his last words into his hands, his body wracked by sobs. 

Seeing that he has nothing more to say for the moment, Jim untangled his arms from Bones’ shoulders, swung his legs around the side of the bed, and came to rest on his knees in front of Bones’ hunched, sobbing figure. He leaned up and wrapped him in a huge, comforting hug. And he just held him while his best friend, his lover, his soul mate sobbed into his neck. When the sobbing subsided, he pulled away a little, and held Bones’ face in his hands. 

“Bones. Leo, look at me,” he said commandingly. When Bones complied, opening his tearful brown eyes, he continued. “You are not a failure. You’re far from it. You’ve done everything in your power to keep her safe, and make her happy. You are no failure. And you’re a fantastic father. You care more than anyone else in the world, more than anyone in the entire galaxy, about everyone you love. And you obviously care tremendously about her, cause you wouldn’t have kept her a secret from everyone else otherwise. You care so much, more than conceivable, more than anyone could ask for, and you aren’t a failure.” Jim wrapped Bones in another hug, before he could object to anything that Jim had said. 

“But Jim. I... I don’t deserve her. I can’t even cook her dinner cause I’m so goddamn busy all the time. Not that I don’t love my work, or the Enterprise, or you, but I feel like I owe her so much more than I’m giving her,” Bones trailed off, talking into Jim’s neck.

Jim thought for a moment. “You know what, Bones? We can fix that dinner thing. We could go over tomorrow, spend the day, make her dinner, put her to bed, do all those family things.” He pulled away from Bones and held his hands while proposing his idea. In an attempt to lighten the mood a little, he added “After all, what a better day to be a family than on Sunday?”

That got Bones to crack a smile, chuckling a little through his slowing tears. Jim grinned, and sat himself back on the bed, next to Bones. After a beat, Bones threw his arms around Jim, pressing a chaste kiss on his lips before resting his head on his shoulder. They sat there like that for a while, arms around each other, lost in thought. 

When Bones broke their embrace he nodded, swallowing and saying “Yeah. We’ll go see her tomorrow.” He then swung his legs onto the bed, and crawled up to the head of the bed, and under the covers. Jim smiled fondly to himself as he crawled into bed after his best friend, entangling their limbs haphazardly, and letting his mind wander until he eventually is overtaken by sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James Kirk doesn’t get scared. He doesn’t get nervous either. He has already proven himself to the world, and his bravery nears insanity. But that morning Jim woke up with a gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know what was up, but he was worried. He knew that for sure.

It was only after breakfast that he admitted to himself that he was nervous. And it was on their way to Joanna’s apartment that he identified why: he was going to meet Bones’ daughter. This was when the questions that had been plaguing his subconscious found themselves in his conscious mind, and began to drive him crazy.

“Bones, you should just go by yourself. You need to spend some quality time with her and I don’t want to be an intruder o-” said, before Bones cut him off.

“No, Jim. You were the one that convinced me we should do this. And besides, we’re already over halfway there,” Bones said firmly. He was not about to let Jim back out now, not this time. 

“But Bonesssss. What if I do something wrong? But... What if she doesn’t like me?” he asked worriedly. He hadn’t talked to kids in years, and he wasn’t sure what to talk to her about, or what to do. Hell, he didn’t even know if he liked kids. 

All he knew was that he needed to make a good impression on Jo. He needed her to like him. If she didn’t, he didn’t think he could take it. Not to mention, it would make being in a relationship with Bones a whole lot more difficult. 

“Jim, relax. She’s 8. Of course she’ll like you!” Bones replied in his gruff, yet oddly reassuring manner.

“But -”

“No buts. She’s gonna love you, Jim. Even if the only reason for that is because I love you, it’s enough for her,” he paused for a moment, mouth turning up into a small smile. To Jim, though, it still looked oddly strained, but he couldn’t say anything about it before Bones continued. “You don’t need to be nervous. She’s already decided she likes you. Just be yourself. It’ll all turn out fine.”

Jim was about to rebuke him when Bones stopped at the door in front of them. Jim had hardly noticed them entering a building, much less the turbolift, when he was talking to Bones. He was just so nervous...

Bones unlocked the door and called into the apartment “Jo, Tash, we’re here.”

Within seconds, Jim heard the pitter patter of tiny feet running across the hardwood floors towards the door. The little girl shot around the corner, and sprinted over to them to latch onto Bones’ leg, screaming “Daddy!”

She clung onto Bones’ leg with a fierce intensity, but she was still enough that Jim could get a good look at her while she pressed her face into her daddy’s leg. She had long dark hair, much like Bones’, pulled into a high ponytail. Her skin was lightly tanned, and her eyes were a truly beautiful light brown. And her smile... It was contagious. 

Bones actually laughed as he pulled her gently off his leg, and hoisted her up into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung tightly, grinning at Bones. Jim only looked away from their happy reunion when he heard another voice from a few feet away. 

“Good morning, Dr. McCoy. How are you?” greeted a young lady Jim assumed to be Tash.

“I’m doing well, Tash. And, again, it’s Leo. None of this Dr. McCoy business, alright?” replied Bones as he set Jo down. 

“Alright, Leo. There’s coffee in the kitchen, if you two would like.” Tash said as she followed Jo around the corner, and led them into the kitchen. It was nothing special, but the fridge was covered in art Jim presumed Jo had drawn. Upon taking a closer look, he discovered that the kid wasn’t half bad. 

He joined Bones and Tash at the counter with coffee as they talked about Jo and work and how things were going, and ‘has anything happened that I need to know about,’ and ‘no Leo nothing’s happened.’ They were starting to go into detail about this past week at school, what they’d been learning, when Jim got bored. He wandered away from the kitchen, and meandered down the hall. He turned the corner, only to find Joanna standing right in front of him. 

Now, Jim didn’t really know what to do in this kind of situation, but he just did what James Kirk does best: he made it up as he went. 

“Hi” he said with an easy smile and a little wave. 

“Are you Daddy’s friend?” she asked bluntly.

“Yup. My name’s Jim. And you’re Joanna, right?” he asked, crouching down so they’re eye level.

“Yup,” she replied with a smile. Suddenly, she grabbed Jim’s hand and pulled him down the hall, into a room decorated with tons of stuffed animals. Jim assumed this was her room, as she sat him down in front of the bed, and she climbed on top of it. She sat down cross legged on the bed facing Jim. 

“I want to play with you, but first, I have a question” Jo said plainly. 

“Alright, go for it. I’ll answer anything,” Jim replied earnestly.

“Do you like Daddy?” she asked.

“Of course I do,” Jim replied quickly. When Jo just stared at him, he felt the need to add more. So he did. “I think your dad is a great man, and he’s my best friend. I think he’s a fantastic doctor and an even better friend.”

“But do you love him?” she asked after a pause.

“You know,” Jim said quietly, “I think I do.”

“Would you ever hurt him?” she asked in all seriousness.

“No. Not even if my life depended on it,” Jim responded, with equivalent levels of seriousness. 

“Good!” Jo beamed, jumping up and throwing her arms around Jim’s neck, much like she had with Bones not too long ago. “Then I love you too.”

Jim beamed, hugging her tightly, eyes welling up with joyous tears. 

“Now let’s play,” she said, releasing her grip around his neck and going over to the dresser to get.... a cowboy hat. “I’m gonna be a cowgirl, and you’re gonna be my pony. Kay?”

Jim smiled, and said “Sounds like fun.”

“Mhmm,” she nodded, “It is. Now get onto your hands and knees.”

Jim complied, and soon he was having the time of his life, playing a pony for an 8 year old girl. 

He bucked up a little, jostling his rider and neighing when he caught a glimpse of Bones in the doorway. Although Jim had only seen him momentarily, his face wasn’t one Jim could forget anytime soon. He looked the happiest he’d ever seen him, a smile of pure happiness and love on his face, and eyes wet with joyful tears. Jim hadn’t thought it possible for Bones, his grumpy Southern doctor, to look so goddamn happy. And it warmed Jim’s heart immeasurably. 

A minute or so later, while Jo was still playing with Jim, Bones spoke up. “Jo, honey, go say bye to Tash. She’ll be back in the morning, but Jim and I are going to stay with you for the night.”

“OK!” Jo said as she jumped off Jim’s back and bounded down the hall away from them. 

The two of them just stood there, smiling at each other for a moment. 

“She loves you,” Bones said simply, making Jim blush a little. 

“She adores you, Bones,” said Jim, as he stepped closer to him. “She won’t stop talking about Daddy.”

At this revelation, silent, joyous tears slip down Bones’ face. Because this, this was more than he ever dared dream of. Because he had his two favorite people in the entire universe in the same place, right in front of him, having a great time together. Because of the possibilities of what could happen with the three of them. Because no matter how many things could go wrong, so many more things could go right. 

It could be fantastic.

Bones closed the gap between them with a swift step, and smashed his lips against Jims’. He tangled his fingers in the blond’s already tousled hair, and they kissed like love-struck teenagers. 

A minute later, they heard the front door close. And Jim and Leo? They broke their kiss, and looked into each other’s eyes, grinning. 

“Hey, Jo. I have a few ideas for dinner,” Jim started, exiting her room and leaving Bones to alone. 

And all Bones could do was think about how lucky he was to have these two fantastic people in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, this took a lot longer than I intended. Sorry it took so long! Hope you all enjoy! (unbeta'd, so sorry for any grammar/spelling errors and/or nonsensical stuff)


End file.
